A Sage's Advice
by Freedom Guard
Summary: Naruto lands in the Thundercats 2011 world and aids the group in many ways. And in time gives Lion-O some advice pertaining to matters of the heart. One shot only.


A Sage's Advice

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Thundercats or Naruto so don't bother sending the legal eagles on me, okay?

( ): Thoughts

…

Author's Notes:

_This is merely a one shot story that has Naruto landing in the Thundercats 2011 world, in some ways this is similar to what I had done in my Naruto Avatar The Last Airbender story. Only differences here is that in transit, Naruto takes a humanoid fox appearance, but only with the claws, ears, whiskers, and light fur, but no tails of the sort, in a way similar to the Thundercats themselves. And second is that he is not there to get a female partner no matter how tempting it would be to me._

_In this case, he takes the same role with Lion-O as he does with Aang and provides advice and also support as well as combat aid, he arrives in the third episode and helps them out with the massive creature and while not well received at first, he becomes an ally to them. Naruto usually talks with Lion-O since he sees a lot in himself with the young Lord and while he does advise him, he also let's Lion-O makes his own choices and lets him deal with the outcome, good and bad._

_And in this case, it is in two parts, one dealing with the events of Tygra and Cheetara's revealing of their relationship and their 'betrayal', and also when Pumyra joins the group and the growing relationship between the new arrival and Lion-O.._

…

As the celebration was going up, Naruto looked at Lion-O from a fair distance and while on the outside the young Thundercat was happy, he could sense with his Senjutsu that he was a boiling cauldron of emotions, all of which were mostly negative and directed at his adopted older brother Tygra and the cleric Cheetara. And he knew why, after all, Lion-O was not the only one who caught the two lovers kissing. He suspected that there was a lot of tension between the brothers when he met them and the focus of the tension was none other than the cleric.

He could not blame either Lion-O or Tygra as even he had to admit that Cheetara was a drop dead gorgeous woman, even though she would stick out like a sore thumb, a good looking sore thumb, back home in Konoha. The fact that she happened to be more emotionally mature and level headed made her an excellent aid in their fight with this…Mumm-Ra being he had heard a lot about. He still wanted to know how he got to this world and most especially why he turned into a humanoid fox like being, but he decided to help them out as best he could. Lion-O reminded him a good deal of himself though only in certain areas and now it seemed that one such area was love.

He got up from where he was, let his Sage Mode disappear and he headed to Lion-O and as he got there, he tapped the young Thundercat on the shoulder and spoke to him.

"Lion-O we need to talk."

Lion-O looked confused at his friend and some time advisor Naruto and asked.

"What exactly do you want to talk about?"

Naruto looked at the others and shook his head.

"Not here, somewhere private."

He then leaned down and whispered into Lion-O's ear.

"You were not the only one who saw what you saw back there when the bell sounded."

Lion-O's eyes widened somewhat at that and he looked at the humanoid fox and saw that Naruto was not pulling his tail and grimly nodded. He had learned to trust and respect the stranger they met before, he might have been mysterious and his powers were certainly unlike anything he and the others had seen, even Panthro admitted he had not seen his kind or his kind of powers before. But there was no denying that his skills were certainly welcome and his advice while somewhat cryptic at times, certainly helped.

He placed down his plate and followed the blonde Shinobi and soon they headed off to a more secluded spot and then the blonde quickly got their own fire going with some wood and his own fire making kit. Once the fire was done, he sat down and faced Lion-O who sighed a bit as he dropped his happy face and he was now showing his hurt expression as he spoke.

"I never thought that it would be both Tygra and Cheetara who would betray me. Anet never mentioned anything about you seeing it though Naruto."

The blonde shrugged and replied to that.

"Sometimes things can surprise you, anyway, want to talk about it?"

'What's there to talk about? Tygra's won yet again, he always won everything when we were cubs back home. Every competition we always were in I was the losing one, swordsmanship, shooting with bows, racing, combat, anything, I always lost and he would say. 'If it was not for the throne you would always be second best.' I always hated that. Father always favored him, even though I know my father said that he was proud of me when I was with him one last time, I always remember what he would say. 'Why can't you be like Tygra?' And I also know that behind my back, the people in the palace, and even the other cats who were not in the noble houses would say behind my back that I was a fool, Tygra was a better choice for king, he was a better leader…all of that. Just this once, I wanted to win something, anything to prove that I am not a fool, second best. I know that Tygra is there by my side, but I can't help but feel…angry at him. Even more so now that I saw what happened between him and Cheetara, he won her heart. And that tells me that he had won yet again!"

"And Cheetara…I thought that just this once I was with someone who did not look at me as if I was nuts for wasting my time looking at technology. That I was not naïve and foolish for thinking that all animals regardless of species have to be treated with compassion. Those same things gave us a chance to fight Mumm-Ra, and there were times I felt that she reciprocated how I felt. I felt happy, happy to know that I finally found someone who trusted me and stand by me. I felt that I was…in love. But I know now that she had eyes only for Tygra, she did not care for me the way I…the way I hoped for. I feel like she was leading me around by the nose and it makes me feel, angry, used, and betrayed!"

Naruto did not stop Lion-O and allowed him to loosen his anger and hurt as he decided to let him bleed it all out of his system. It took a while but it was not long before Naruto saw that he was able to lose some of the burdens on his mind. He then decided to speak to Lion-O.

"You know…I always suspected that."

"What?"

"When I first ran into you guys, I always saw that when it came to Cheetara you two were really on edge with each other. It did not take much for me to notice that and I had to admit that it was rather troubling yet interesting that you two would be like that towards her. But I know how you feel Lion-O."

Lion-O growled and tightened his grip and replied sarcastically to Naruto.

"How could you possibly know about how I feel?"

"Because I went through the same feelings you did, and that is because just like you, I used to be in love with a woman too and competed with my own team mate since we all were in the same team."

That got Lion-O's attention as he looked at Naruto who looked at him seriously, that allowed him to see that Naruto meant what he said and he could not help but be curious.

"You mean…"

Naruto nodded and spoke seriously.

"Her name…well, her name suited her beauty at the time, Sakura was her name, and in some ways she was named after a flower. It's beauty in full bloom yet it would not last long afterwards. Not that I parted in bad terms with her actually. Back then when we were younger, I was in love with her, but she ignored me, heck she outright despised me since I was the dead last as it were. I was the weakest person back then in my academy days and believe me, it was not hard to see since in most areas of training I was pretty bad."

The young King raised his eyebrows at that and tried to picture the battle hardened being before him as being a complete klutz and weakling. After all he had seen Naruto do in battle, the idea of him being weak sounded utterly preposterous.

"I find that hard to believe Naruto, I've already seen you in action."

"You saw me when I was older and wiser, as well as better skilled and experienced. Back then before I took my training seriously and got trained by some good teachers, I was really that bad. Naturally Sakura was not happy when I tried to ask her out and stuff. She had her eyes only on another guy, one named Sasuke and I disliked him for it, heck he was just like Tygra in a way, snarky, arrogant, and a bit of a stubborn guy. I did have some respect for him, but most of the time I wanted to prove that I could be stronger than even him. You could say that your rivalry with Tygra was like mine with Sasuke. You could say that he was the child prodigy and I was the class clown. I tried everything back in the Academy and he did better then."

Naruto began to describe things to Lion-O and in those moments Lion-O began to see just how similar he and Tygra's rivalry was to Naruto and this Sasuke's rivalry. Naruto then told him about the event that changed everything, after Sasuke got badly injured and he managed to get the help of a famed healer ninja like him to help Sasuke.

"After that, I saw how much Sakura loved Sasuke, she was all wound up with fear and worry for him, and I knew there and then that I was not going to have an easy time of it. I was angry, I was hurt, and more…but I also knew that I could not break Sakura's happiness by being an ass about it. So I decided there and then not to get in their way, it hurt like hell, I can say that much because I really did love Sakura. And I was still at times feeling angry about it but I did respect Sasuke enough and cared for Sakura to not get involved no matter how painful it was."

Lion-O listened to every word carefully and then when he felt he should ask, he did.

"What happened after that?"

"It's a long story, but the short version was that something corrupted him and things went downhill from there. I made a pledge to Sakura to bring him back and while I failed due to circumstances I could not control, I vowed to bring him back. Sakura and I then promised to do it together and over time we became good friends and team mates, a vast improvement considering how she used to treat me back in the past. I know my love was one sided, but as long as Sakura was happy then I was happy, hard to accept but in the end it was her happiness that mattered."

Naruto sighed as the memories of those times came back and he then looked at Lion-O.

"There is a difference between my situation with Sasuke and yours with Tygra though. And that was Tygra is indeed in love with Cheetara, Sasuke never cared much for Sakura at all, even though she did love him he did not care and even tried to kill her a few times."

"Whiskers! Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack Lion-O, and Sakura, even if it hurt her to do it, she tried to kill him as well, because she loved him enough to try and stop him before he finally became a monster, though it never got to that point. In the end though, she finally let go and found someone else to love and unlike Sasuke, he loved Sakura back so it worked out in the end since the guy in question was a good friend of ours as well."

"I see…"

Naruto moved over the fire to warm his hands and continued with the conversation as soon as he gathered his thoughts on how to proceed with the discussion between the two of them.

"Look, truth of the matter is, I know that you do love Cheetara in your own way and I respect that, and I know that you feel hurt, angry, and you want to get even with both of them. But the fact of the matter is, letting your anger cloud your mind is not going to be good thing. Let's say that you do find a way to get even with your brother, would it help you in fighting Mumm-Ra in the long term?"

Lion-O looked frustrated and it showed as he replied as he looked at the blonde Shinobi.

"So what should I do? Pretend it never happened?"

"No, that's just as bad, it's like leaving behind a wound that never got treated, it gets worse and eventually it becomes so bad it can kill you. Keeping your feelings bottled up all the time is not going to be healthy, but I am not suggesting that you explode in front of them either. What I am saying is that you have to ask yourself this, would you really harm the ones you love just to get back at them? You might have a rivalry with your adopted brother but you and him have fought together and there had been times you were both on the same page right?"

"Yeah…there were times like that."

"Good to know, and then there is Cheetara, she might not have known about you two fighting over her, but I can already tell that she loved Tygra a great deal. It's the kind of love that can make you do what you can in your power to protect someone, the kind that makes you want to spend the rest of your life with that person, and I see the same in Tygra, another difference between him and Sasuke. If you were to do something to harm Tygra, it would in turn hurt her and if she learns that you did it deliberately, then you can bet that it is going to make things a lot worse than before between the three of you. You might be angry towards her, but are you angry enough make her suffer pain physically or mentally Lion-O?"

Lion-O was silent as he began to take Naruto's words into consideration, and the thought of him harming Cheetara did not sit well with him. He was still angry and hurt, but he also knew that right now, Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro, Wilykat, and Wilykit, and Snarf were all that was left of the Thundercats at this moment. They needed to work together and having a situation like that happen would only serve to harm them all. And in the end, it would doom them all, he did not want that. But it was not easy to turn the feelings of anger, hurt, pain, and more go away at all, he still felt the need to lash back at them, for what they had done to him.

But yet again, he realized that allowing his anger to guide him could end up destroying any hope of freedom for his people and others from Mumm-Ra, they needed to stand as one.

"No…I don't think I could do that, but the pain is still there."

Naruto nodded in agreement as he crossed his arms over his chest and replied calmly as he could sense that Lion-O was indeed getting the message.

"It's going to be there, it's not going to go away immediately even if you want it to…believe me, I know how it feels first hand. But I also know that in time, wounds like that can heal and you can recover, though that only happens if you are willing to heal those wounds. I am not saying you smile and pretend, no, tell them the truth and say that while you are hurt and angry, you are not going to stand against it because you know that you do care for them and their happiness. And if they find happiness together then let them have that happiness. You're going to need that in this conflict and in time, you will also heal as well. And it might make a better leader out of you since to care for the people's happiness and future is a hallmark of a good leader."

The blonde then smirked as he looked at the stars above and spoke.

"Besides, I also learned from experience that fate has ways of making it up to you for all the pain and hardship you go through. Especially when it comes to the kind of pain from a broken heart if you let it."

Lion-O raised an eyebrow at that and wondered just what was Naruto driving at and he made that obvious as he asked the question.

"What do you mean by that Naruto?"

"Look at the stars above us."

"What's does looking at the stars have to do with anything?"

"Just humor me here Lion-O. Look up at them."

Lion-O did so and Naruto spoke once more.

"There are so many of them, filled with billions of possibilities you know, you can never be too sure what you will see up there. But when you find a star that you feel a connection to, in that vast sea of stars, you will hold onto it and you will feel one with it. It might not be the star you expected, but when you find it, you will want no other star. What I am trying to say is that you will find someone else someday, after all, I highly doubt that you and the others are the ONLY Thundercats left alive in this world. There are bound to be others alive out there, and maybe among them, you will find a female Thundercat who might be the one for you."

Lion-O could help but shake his head at that and also speak with some level of confusion.

"So you're saying that I might find someone else?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it, you might not forget Cheetara right away, but you will eventually and in time you might find the one who you are willing to let into your heart again. It's not going to happen overnight, and I highly doubt that she is going to land in your lap and embrace you with open arms, or be nice to you on the first meeting, but it will happen at some point. She might not be anything you expected or hoped for, but that's usually the thing that makes women very interesting and worth loving at times. It's going to take some time and possibly a good deal of talking, shouting, hitting, back and forth stuff, but when it all works out, then it will be undeniably worth it. You and the others might be at war with Mumm-Ra, but finding someone who you love and you will fight for can make it all the more worth it. And in the end, well I'll leave that up to you."

Lion-O looked at the suggestive way Naruto smirked and could not help but smile back and laugh a bit and he spoke to his friend.

"This is all from experience I take it?"

Naruto laughed as memories came back and he replied in a happy fashion.

"Exactly, but if you think I am going to tell you about those times, forget it. But if you want, I can give you some love advice."

Lion-O blushed at that and shook his head, Naruto seemed to turn into a lecherous old fox right in front of his eyes, and he felt that he KNEW what he was talking about. Part of him was very curious about what Naruto knew but that could wait.

"No thanks, I feel that it can wait."

Naruto laughed even more and replied with a cheeky, foxy grin on his face.

"Suit yourself but if you ever need the advice, give me a call. Anyway, take my advice if you want Lion-O. I only tell you what I can, it's all up to you to make your own way. As it has always been, now come on, I think it's time that we douse this fire and then head back before the others start thinking that you and me got taken by those Lizards."

…

Near the Thunder-Tank weeks later…

Lion-O was deep in thought about what happened between him and Pumyra back in the mines when they lost the Sword of Plun-darr to Mumm-Ra. Being that close to her and seeing her like that as well as hearing her apologize for what she had done in the past had triggered a lot of things and emotions in his mind, and he knew that these feelings were certainly different. The others were busy gathering what they could for the rest of the way. They had managed to get the freed Thundercat slaves to safety and while some had not been too happy with Lion-O the others were happy to learn that their King had allies fighting to help them and he would soon stop Mumm-Ra.

It had taken some time to get them all to rest in their new hideout and now they had to keep moving, Mumm-Ra had the sword he had used in the past again but that did not mean that the fight was over. There was still a chance and they were going to find it and use it to stop the evil creature and his allies from winning over Third Earth.

He was deep in thought about how to talk to Pumyra and sighed a bit, recalling just how they had met. She was angry at him and nearly killed him many times in that arena, and he could not blame her anger since in a way, he understood the why of it. In the end though, it had worked out and she joined them, though it was not easy since she was still unfriendly towards him. But after what happened, things changed between them, he admitted that he had finally gotten over Cheetara and her relationship with Tygra as well and he meant it. But now he wanted to know just how to deal with this current situation between him and Pumyra.

Right now she was busy resting form her injuries in the Thunder-Tank and right now Panthro was busy doing some needed field repairs on the vehicle. Tygra and Cheetara were busy on patrol and that left him and Naruto alone. Though in this case, Naruto was also on watch duty elsewhere. He felt that he should at least talk to his friend, it had been weeks since the conversation they had before and now, it was time that he got to chat with Naruto. There was something that was growing between him and Pumyra, and he wanted to get some input from his friend, he could have asked Tygra and Cheetara, but he was not too comfortable with that yet, plus it was private and he had no doubt that while Cheetara might respect it, Tygra might use it as a source of amusement towards him.

…

As he got up and head over there to Naruto's location, Tygra and Cheetara arrived and they saw him as he moved to where Naruto was. Tygra spoke to his adopted brother at this moment to see how he was doing.

"Lion-O, where are you off to?"

"Going to chat with Naruto, there's something him and me have to discuss."

Cheetara soon joined the conversation as she could tell that what it was that Lion-O had in his mind, it was serious.

"Is it important?"

"Yes it is Cheetara, don't worry, I just want to, how does he phrase that again, ah yeah, play catch up. We won't be gone long."

Lion-O took off and that was something that made both Tygra and Cheetara wonder just what was the conversation about. It was also here that Pumyra came up and so did Panthro. The object of Lion-O's recent thoughts looked to where Lion-O was heading and she wondered just what the reason was that the King would go to that fox for advice. When she met him, something about him was a bit off and she did not know that many fox beings thus far, and she made that clear to him. But instead of being offended, the fox just laughed a bit and accepted her judgment, and replied that he did not mind. He had his own reasons for being with the Thundercats, but he was not a spy, but an ally. A fact confirmed by the others as well, so she let the matter be.

Still she was curious as to why he was the one who Lion-O chatted with a bit more than his adopted brother, the cleric Cheetara, and Panthro.

"Why is it that the King always seeks advice more from that Fox than us?"

Cheetara replied with a slight smile.

"Naruto might not be one of us Pumyra, but his advice and aid is certainly welcome, Lion-O certainly appreciates his assistance when he gives it and so are we."

Tygra nodded in agreement though he sighed as well.

;"Sometimes his advice is cryptic and makes no sense, but in the long run, it does and it saved our tails more times than I care to count. His powers can be pretty interesting and surprising, but they help a lot and his fighting skills are pretty interesting, unorthodox to be sure, but effective and useful. He might look young, but he acts a lot more like a wise old cat, or fox in his case than his looks suggest."

Pumyra nodded a bit as she tried to absorb that, and her thoughts went back to Lion-O, she had not told both Tygra and Cheetara about what exactly happened in the mines, especially the…intimate moments there. She did feel very much ashamed of her treatment of the king after all the times he had saved her in the tunnels, and the time there had allowed them to bond with one another. She had to admit that she had heard all the stories about Lion-O that showed him as a fool and a complete idiot, and she once thought the same even more so after the fall of Thundera. But she learned that he was hardly a fool, naïve at times, but in the end his actions were able to turn things around. And he cared deeply for the people and others who became allies.

And of course her, she nearly killed him a number of times but he managed to survive and in the end, prove to her that he was a good cat. She did flirt with him on occasion and recalled just what was it she had said to him when she asked him if he was over Cheetara. It was a teasing question but in truth, she was a bit worried as she had to accept that Cheetara was a very attractive cat and a Cleric as well. It therefore did not surprise her when she heard from Wilykat that back in the day, Lion-O and Tygra would be in something of a tension filled situation over her. She in turn heard that Lion-O was none too happy when Tygra and Cheetara had revealed their relationship and while he did say he was all right over it, he did show some bitterness about it.

But after the time he actually had died briefly he had apparently forgiven himself and had indeed gotten over the whole affair. But that did not mean that she personally thought that it was over, hence the question she had asked him and the response she made in relation to his answer to said question.

Now that she recovered, she wanted to talk to Lion-O about what had happened between them and also about that comment she made. She wanted to be clear about the reason why she made it, as while she was flirting with him, she began to realize that her growing relationship with the young king made her rethink the question. But she also wanted to know just what was going on between him and that fox.

Her train of thought was cur short when Tygra spoke out.

"You know, I remember that time that Lion-O and Naruto were not seen in that celebration after we dealt with what happened in the Astral Plane and the day afterwards when Lion-O spoke to us. You think that what they are talking about now has something to do with it Cheetara?"

The Cleric thought about it and admitted that her mate did have something going for the question. She recalled that the day after the celebration, Lion-O had asked to speak to both her and Tygra. There he told them that he had seen the two of them kissing and that was actually the betrayal that Anet had told them about. It was in short a betrayal of his heart.

They were surprised by that and were even more surprised as Lion-O began to tell them just what he had thought about the event and his own thoughts towards them because of it. Once he was done, he replied, to their surprise that while there was no doubt that he was hurt, angry, and bitter about it, he was willing to let them be. He still cared for them and would never forget what they all had done together ever since the fall of Thundera and their actions to fight Mumm-Ra and his allies. He said that maybe in time he would get over it and he would soon forgive and forget, but it would not be easy for him. He cared for their happiness and if they were happy being together then he was not going to stand in their way.

"I suppose that could be true."

Pumyra was confused by that and when she asked what they were talking about, Cheetara finally told the young healer what happened that day. Pumyra was quite surprised by that as he had to admit that what Lion-O did was pretty serious and certainly not something to just overlook. It was here that Tygra moved forward and Cheetara spoke to her partner.

"Where are you going Tygra?"

"I want to know what exactly those two are talking about."

"Are you sure that is wise?"

Tygra grinned at Cheetara and replied by kissing her on the cheek and speaking afterwards.

"I think that this should be interesting, I always suspect that Naruto had a hand in what happened between us and Lion-O. And I want to find out just what is it they speak of, and for all you know, it could include us as well as Pumyra. Why don't we find out just what is it that they are talking about right now?"

…

In Naruto's camp…

Naruto was alert as always and using his Sage Mode to sense the area around him, which was why he quickly sensed Lion-O coming towards him. The Thundercats, in fact just about every being in this world had unique chakra signatures and since he had already sensed Lion-O's previously, he knew that it was him as he deactivated his Sage Mode and spoke to the young King.

"Nice to see you drop by Lion-O, something on your mind?"

Lion-O nodded and soon sat in front of the Sage, Jinchuuriki and former Hokage as he began to collect his thoughts. Naruto did not say anything as he could see that this was going to be a serious discussion between him and Lion-O. As soon as Lion-O felt ready he spoke to the blonde fox.

"I wanted to thank you for the advice you gave to me back there when we were back with the Elephants. That advice really helped in me getting past the Spirit Trials even if I did not make it completely through. And I guess I can say that I am finally over Cheetara and I am really happy for the relationship between the two of them."

Naruto grinned as he could tell that Lion-O was serious about what he said to him, that was a good thing in his mind. But he had a feeling that there was more to this meeting between him and Lion-O than just him merely saying thanks for what he had done for him.

"I am happy that you are much better now, and you don't need to thank me Lion-O, I did state that I was only giving you advice and options, its all on you on whether you take the advice or not. But I take it that there's another reason for this meeting than just you saying thanks."

"There is, I wanted to talk to you about Pumyra."

Naruto raised his eyebrows at that as he warmed his hands over the fire just as Lion-O did as well. Once they were done warming up, he decided to speak next to the young Thundercat. He had a feeling in his gut that the next conversation between him and Lion-O was going to get interesting.

"All right, what is it you want to talk to me about concerning the newest addition to our little resistance crew?"

Lion-O took a deep breath and spoke again, he knew that this next question was important for him.

"What exactly do you think of her Naruto?"

Naruto chuckled a bit at that and replied.

"She's feisty, independent, speaks her mind without care, passionate, brave if a bit reckless, strong willed, skilled in combat for sure, and packs a nasty left and right hook. Plus she is certainly a tough and dedicated woman with healing skills as well which is certainly good to have on the team since having a healer here in this group is definitely a good thing with all the fighting that we happen to wind up every time with tangle with Mumm-Ra and company. And truth be told, she is certainly good on the eyes."

(She certainly reminds me in particular a good deal of Tsunade-obasan, Kami rest her soul, but they here don't need to know that.)

"Though I now should ask you the same thing Lion-O, what do you think of her?"

Lion-O smiled warmly as he admitted that Naruto got it right.

"About the same, though I feel that she loves our people a great deal, and she would do anything to help them. Which is why she was very angry with me when we first met and she knew just who I was and what I was doing there in the city with the others. She thought I did not care about them and had no loyalty to our people"

"I was there when that meeting happened remember? She not only tried to brain you with that sling of hers in the ring, but she was about to turn you into a pincushion with that crossbow of hers and beat you like there was no tomorrow afterwards. I lost count of the times the others especially Tygra and Cheetara begged you to defend yourself. That took some serious balls to stand up to a beating like that, be thankful she did not end up killing you."

Lion-O nodded as he recalled the beating and how long it took for him to heal up afterwards. Naruto saw that and could not help but be amused somewhat by the way Lion-O seemed to have taken to the whole affair. Lion-O then spoke once again to the Shinobi.

"I wanted to ask you about her since it has something to do with what happened there when we infiltrated Mount Plun-darr to free the other Thundercats,"

The blonde Shinobi could not help but feel a good deal of curiosity about that, he had been on guard duty with Panthro over the tank at the time that Lion-O, Cheetara, Tygra, and Pumyra made the plan to infiltrate Mount Plun-darr. Thus he was not in on the whole affair and the only thing he did see was that Lion-O had one heck of a flustered face on him. He naturally wanted to know just what the cause was for that facial expression on the young king.

"Okay, what exactly did Pumyra tell you?"

"She asked if I was still interested in Cheetara, I told her that I was not and I was over her. She smiled and then she said that maybe it is time that I move to someone else."

Naruto chuckled a great deal at that comment and gave his own take on what Lion-O had said.

"So let me see if I got that right, she asked you if you were really over Cheetara and when you said yes, she said that maybe it was time you moved to someone else?"

At Lion-O's nod he snickered again as he began to try to piece together what happened afterwards and he had a feeling that this was going to be one very interesting discussion between him and the young Thundercat.

"Okay, first off, do you think she was serious about asking you that?"

Lion-O thought about it long and hard that and he had to admit that even he wondered if Pumyra had been messing around with him again. But he did balance it out with the fact that Pumyra was only with them for a short time, and had not known Cheetara and Tygra the way he did. That and the fact that while their first meeting was anything but safe. Still he could tell to some degree that Pumyra was serious and he felt it as well. He decided to go forward with his thoughts on the matter and replied.

"I feel that she was serious about what she said to me that day and truth be told…I was thinking very seriously about what she said about it. I mean, I know I have only met her a few days ago, and she did try to beat me to near death. But I don't deny that after all we did there in the tunnels and what happened after I saved her with the cost of letting Mumm-Ra get his Sword and Gauntlet back, I do feel differently about her. Enough to state here and now between you and me, I might very well be willing to be with her in a more serious sense."

Naruto chuckled at that but was very interested to know more..

"Just how serious are we talking about here Lion-O?"

"Serious enough to state that if we both had the time, we could go ahead and nibble a bit on each other's ears in private."

Naruto no longer chuckled for a good minute or two, and finally burst out in laughter at what Lion-O had said as the young Thundercat King could not help but watch at the way the Fox was laughing. He normally would have been offended but he knew Naruto was a friend and had been a great aid to them all, especially to him with matter that dealt with the heart so he let it be. Besides, he had already understood that Naruto has experience with this matter so it was better to have him in an amused way than not.

Once the blonde settled down, he wiped the tears from his eyes and then gave Lion-O a cheeky fox like grin once again.

"So you don't mind that you and Pumyra have the time to nibble on each other's ears huh? I like the way that sounds! So you really like her then if you are willing to get to the stage where you and her are like Cheetara and Tygra?"

Lion-O nodded at that.

:"Yeah, I mean I know we are still at war with Mumm-Ra and we need to work together, but I feel that it can work out. I will admit that it's all new to me but I feel like it is worth a try and I am not going to do anything that could ruin it for the both of us."

Naruto saw the fire in Lion-O's eyes, not the reflection of his fire, but the inner fire and he smiled warmly at that as he spoke once more.

"So you really are very serious about it , nice to know that you are serious about taking a chance and opening your heart to someone again. And truth be told, I think you could not have picked a better mate than Pumyra if it all works out. So have you told her what you feel about her comment yet?"

Lion-O shook his head and scratched the back of his head at the same time, showing that despite his admission, he was still not too sure about how he was going to start the discussion on said subject with Pumyra. And his comments made that very obvious to the Sage before him.

"Not just yet, not really sure how she would take it, I just hope that if it does happen, it works out."

"I'll pray for your sake and hers that it does. You two might not have the best first meeting, but it could have been worse. And at least you both are able to stand together and help one another, that is one way to make a relationship work, especially since you two have finally been able to see eye to eye with one another. Speaking of which, since it sounds that you are serious about what you said to me, do you need me to fill you in some techniques and advice on how to make your time with your mate to be interesting if it happens to get to that stage?"

Lion-O blushed a bit at that and scratched his head and spoke once more to Naruto.

"Not sure yet, but I have to ask, just HOW effective is your advice and those techniques you mentioned?"

Naruto grinned once more and replied to that question by placing his fingers really tight together.

"Let me put it this way Lion-O. THIS is how close you and Pumyra are going to be when you put the stuff and advice to use. Panthro might consider investing in getting a LOT of sound proofing material for the Thunder Tank. Tygra and Cheetara might start asking questions on what was it that made you two stick together like two peas in a pod and cause a riot. The Kits might decide to buy some REALLY heavy duty earplugs, either that or be scarred for life, in a good or not so good way. And I can bet that even Mumm-Ra with all four stones, sword and gauntlet, and his full powers in his arsenal cannot get the two of you to part from one another afterwards."

Lion-O blushed bright red at that and shook his head a bit and replied with a very obvious tone of embarrassment.

"I'll keep…the idea of asking open for a later date."

"Sure thing, besides I can teach you the light stuff, not as interesting as the REALLY thick and HOT stuff, but just as effective. Tell me when and we can get to work."

…

Naruto then spoke as he pointed behind them.

"By the way, I think we're going to be in for a very interesting time later, or rather you for that matter."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Look…"

Lion-O turned and to his shock he saw that they were indeed going to be in for a very interesting time. There behind them was none other than Cheetara, Tygra, Panthro, and most telling of all was Pumyra. Tygra was grinned from ear to ear, Cheetara was trying not to laugh though her eyes were alight with amusement, Panthro did not bother and was busting his guts in laughter, and Pumyra…she was blushing bright red and looking anywhere but at Lion-O. The only consolation he felt they had was that the Kittens were not around since they were currently sleeping away and it would have really gotten him in trouble.

But he was already in hot water as he realized that everyone, especially the Thundercat female in question had heard what he and Naruto had talked about.

All he could say was…

"Whiskers!"

Naruto just laughed as he knew that they were really deep in it now.

…

Author's Notes:

There, done, and done, no updates, no new chapters, this is it and it is going to stay that way.

Hope you enjoy it, and if you do not, then I don't mind, after all, this was just an idea crawling in my mind that was a one shot deal anyway.

See you all soon!


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